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Carenado - C208B Grand Caravan HD

Carenado - C208B Grand Caravan HD

By Alexander Czarnecki (June 11, 2011)

Introduction

The Cessna C208B Caravan is a
single turboprop aircraft well known around the world. It is
variously used as a passenger aircraft seating 9 to 14 passengers,
a cargo feederliner or even, armed with Hellfire missiles, in the
Air Force. It is a very versatile aircraft and can be fitted with
wheels, skis, enlarged tires for unprepared runways, and floats on
the Caravan Amphibian model.

Microsoft included a Caravan in default FSX and it is a pretty
good aircraft. However Carenado, with a reputation for outstanding
general aviation aircraft add-ons, has now released a Caravan
expansion for FSX.

Flight dynamics and real behavior of C208B Grand Caravan have
been tested by three C208B real pilots.

No system specifications are given, but due to the HD textures,
I recommend at least a 512 MB Graphics Card and a Dual Core
Processor and 2 GB RAM.

Also available is a Super Cargomaster Expansion Pack which requires
the Carenado - C208B Grand Caravan HD to be installed first. This
adds a cargo model with one paint scheme plus a blank texture, with
a FEDEX and DHL ones available as a free download from the Carenado
web site, with the links provided in the documentation.

Installation

The main C208B Grand Caravan HD add-on comes as a 97 MB
download. When downloaded, run it and follow the instructions
given. You will be requested to enter your email address and serial
code you received in an email after you bought the product, when it
accepts the information, it will install the C208B in your FSX
folder. The Super Cargomaster Expansion Pack is a 37 MB download
which is installed the same way.

Documentation regarding the C208B includes:

AVSS Manual

Normal & Emergency Checklist

Reference

GNS 430 User Guide

Virtual Cockpit Instruments

The Caravan

As is expected from Carenado the Caravan externally is
beautiful. The Caravan package is the start of the "HD" series from
Carenado which features textures of 2048x2048 resolution. While
these textures really pick up every detail, they impose a fairly
significant system demand.

The package includes five color schemes plus a blank one for
repainters. There is another one in the Super Cargomaster expansion
pack. Also there are many different third party repaints available
for free download from the FlightSim.Com file library and other
places.

There is no 2D panel, as is the trend nowadays. The virtual
cockpit is excellent, with preset camera views to view light
switches, radios, etc. There is also a full virtual cabin which has
seats for the base add-on, and cargo for the Cargomaster expansion
pack.

Virtual cockpit night lighting is very good.

One thing, there are no 3D popups for the gauges. However a
really cool feature is the addition of a Bendix/King Weather Radar.
The middle picture above is a shot showing the weather radar while
flying thru some bad weather.

Carenado handily included two popup control panels. One controls
the doors, and the other has options to customize the aircraft;
changing the seat layout, removing or adding the cargo pod,
toggling 3D cockpit knobs on or off, showing the external tiedown
stuff and whether to show the virtual cockpit windows.

The sounds are very realistic and sound like a Cessna. Having
not flown a real Caravan, I can't comment much on the flight
dynamics, but it feels and behaves like a single engine turboprop.
But with the flight dynamics being tested by three real Caravan
pilots, I'd say they would be pretty true to life.

Performance And Bugs

The only bug I could find is that light bloom from external
lights shows thru the panel. It only shows if you have light bloom
enabled (image above, right). Because of the HD textures, simmers
with a low to mid range system will encounter a pretty high
performance hit. I found frames dropped as much as 50% compared to
the default Cessna.

Conclusion

Another fantastic aircraft from Carenado and if your system can
handle the frame rate loss, you will love the plane! The price may
be a tad higher than usual, but don't let that deter you. It is
worth it. The versatility makes it a really fun plane to fly. Have
fun flying it!